Fran and Friends

Thursday, April 26, 2012

April Craft---Growing seeds

Having a very ill teen at home leaves me little time to myself much less managing my blogs. I have decided to continue with my blogs but I will only be adding content occasionally for the time being.

April's Craft is going to be something for "spring". The warm weather makes you want to go out and dig in the garden.

My daughter and I both love to grow things. I think playing in the dirt and getting in touch with Mother Nature can be quite rewarding. I have bought several little kits for my daughter and so she began growing tomatoes,and sunflowers...etc...Being sick she isn't able to get out much so this project was very rewarding because she could watch her seeds grow and see the changes each and everyday. This photo is of my daughter's first seed project. I believe these are of Sunflowers.

Kids of all ages can enjoy doing a project like this. However if you have small children I would advise you to plant some of your bigger seeds like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds etc...The plants are more hardy and seem to grow faster. You might even get them to eat some of the vegetables they grow...if you are lucky.

You don't have to purchase these kits however. All you need to do is go to your local dollar store and buy a package of plastic cups,some seeds,a bag of soil and a permanent marker.

Fill the cups up with soil. Halfway is good enough...then make a small indent with your finger. Place a few seeds into this indentation and then cover lightly with soil. Water and place in a sunny window. Make sure you write the name of the plant on the plastic cup with a permanent marker. Be sure to keep the soil moist and check everyday.

If you want you can even add some plastic wrap over the cups to help the growing process. Germination doesn't take too long...soon you will see the leaves and stem poking through the soil. I have placed my cups in a baking pan so that it makes it easier to move from window to window.